Darren Bent v Andy Burton in a Twitter challenge

Since his Twitter antics during the summer while at Tottenham, Darren Bent has turned it all around with five goals in seven for Sunderland, and has also a return to the social media website where he tweets out an honest and interesting account of what he’s up to, becoming the most active Twitter user in the Premier League along with Hull’s Jozy Altidore.

Sky Sports reporter Andy Burton challenged the Sunderland striker to see who can reach 10,000 followers first – the loser having to donate a day’s wages to charity. Burton has already hit 2,000, having managed to plug his challenge on Soccer AM earlier this morning, while Darren is running just under the 2k mark at the time of writing.

Twitter has become one of the most popular internet sites over the last few months, people like Stephen Fry and Ashton Kutcher being the more known on it. Many of the American footballers have a page, including one or two big stars like Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand, but they are rarely updated.

How great is it to see big starts like Darren been given the chance to connect with fans for free online? While some may be more reserved in an interview for a newspaper, being let air their opinions and let their followers in on what’s going on at training and what they do to relax while at home is fantastic. In an age where every football game is online, where football has just a big a presence on the web as it does anywhere else, it’s surprising not to see more footballers joining up an interacting with the fans who adore them on Twitter.

Since the challenge was aired on Soccer AM, presenter Max Rushden has got in on the act with over 4000 followers, along with boxer David Haye who was on the sofa at the time.

Who do you want to win? Follow @footballandy if you want him to reach 10,000 and have Darren donate a day’s wages to a charity of his choice, but then you’ll be missing out on his updates, so why not follow @DBTheTruth too?